Study on emissions of electric cars

[RobQuads]

Originally Posted by antman99

Regarding the grid, I know a lot less than Signum about it so won’t pretend but I after looking at what I consider facts on environmental impact I am going to get solar installed and possibly a small battery until V2G becomes available, with solar at the current pricing if you are not going to move for 7 years it can pay off on average and you help to increase the renewable usage.

That might have been the case a few years ago but would be massively surprised if you can get pack back in 7 years. When i looked around 6 months ago due to the massive cuts in the feed in tariffs. Break even was much closer to 11-12 years for us vs just putting the same amount onto our mortgage, add to that a cost of a battery and you need to be staying in the house quite some time to actually benefit from it.

You need to invest quite a lot to really get the best out of solars, in the right scenario it can really help but all the extra costs just push out that break even point.

We has a similar scenario to you when replacing our second car but found the cost of the i3 (and similar compact electrics) were much more and given that it was the lower millage car <5K a year again it wasn't such a great move. The purchase difference would pay for a lot of petrol, specially with the 60mpg cars that are out there.

Great it works for you but you need to make sure you remember all costs. Hopefully the costs will come down so the premium is not so high making it a more viable option

[Ringthane]

EV’s and Hybrids tend to be viewed as green(er) solutions, without consideration to their overall impact on greenhouse gas emissions, the environment and our infrastructure. The emphasis here in London has always been on cutting tailpipe emissions, and that is a good thing, although don’t get me started on all the taxis and busses that are exempt from emissions regulations...

Don’t get me wrong, I will run my XC60 D4, for as long as I can, before buying a Polestar 2, Tesla, or any other full EV, to serve me into my retirement, but I will do so fully cognisant of the affect it will have on the world around me.

So, rather than sour your Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrection of the Easter Bunny, with dusty old statistics, I thought I’d share some unfiltered (and I mean not safe for work) musings from down under. I understand their electricity generation is not the same as here in the UK, in terms of the mix of generation technologies, but the principle remains the same.

On what would happen to the electricity supply:
https://youtu.be/w_OYbZzWk5E

On how green:
https://youtu.be/PKNoy3MYPFU

And on Hydrogen as an alternative:
https://youtu.be/qOntMxYA29U
https://youtu.be/xa6MGVmkvO8

Enjoy.

[Haldex]

(with all due respect for the poster..) The first two vids are that “autoexpert” idiot- and I didn’t even bother opening the other two vids.. Sorry- but whatever topic - this guy is a tool, and I can’t stand him for more than 3 sec..

[antman99]

I have to agree with haldex after watching a video along the lines of the xc60 being bu**hit car of the year I tend to ignore him.

Interesting thing I found with the i3

https://jalopnik.com/the-bmw-i3-is-o...ery-1462999376

Again I am not saying it is perfect and the i3 is unique in its construction and factory power although the VW ID claims it will be build in co2 neutral factories.

I think we are in an interesting stage with the conversion to EVs at the moment hence we end up with IMO compromised cars, the eGolf for example a good car no doubt but because it’s design and chassis are from an ICE it doesn’t gain the benefits of pure EVs packaging, this is why we choose the i3 fine it’s not got a massive boot but it feels electric to drive.

I am also amazed at the number of people who stop and ask questions when charging and parking I think a lot of people have misconceptions, I am always 100% honest and say they are not for everyone one I belief that the majority of people who have 2 cars could switch to a pure EV without having an issue, not getting back into the grid thing because I agree not ideal but from this year all government subsidised home chargers have to be grid controllable, combined with grid balancing with V2G I cannot help but feel it is managable without too much investment.

Another thing that I was thinking about yesterday was the actual times people need to charge, rounding down to make the maths easier in my head, one charge is 100 miles, on a 6kWh charger that means in my BMW around 4 hours charge, however 1 charge a week equals 5200 miles a year, 2 charges 10400, pretty sure the average uk driver is 10k or around that. I don’t have my charger at home yet but when I do I am likely to leave it plugged in and just keep it topped up so the actual time pulling from the grid will only be an hour or 2 a day.

[MikeIOW]

We are a long way off from any “perfect solution”....but I feel things are moving in the right direction.

We are awaiting a Hyundai Kona EV, to replace our SMax (no longer need the 7 seats!).
A genuine 250-280 mile range from the 64kWh battery (true eco warriors are getting 300...my right foot won’t allow that, I suspect).
As much tech as my XC60 (I’m a massive fan of adaptive cruise control after over 4 years with that!). Perhaps more, with HUD & a “lane keep assist” function: a test drive showed that to work very well on a motorway.

We already have solar panels (9 years in....), and with a Zappi chargepoint it will divert excess energy to the car rather than the grid. So whilst it is far from making us self-sufficient, it feels like the right thing to me.

We have our XC60 for long journeys...the public charging network sounds like the Wild West right now, but is improving all the time.

Right now it feels like EVs are mostly for the privileged: the cost for the Kona is a good 8-10k over an equivalent ICE (although is far better finished and equipped!), and if we didn’t have a second vehicle for longer runs, I doubt I would have leapt in with an order.
The Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe do bring prices (and range!) down somewhat, but I believe that today you really need your own charging facilities (so a driveway helps!) - I am really looking forward to never visiting a petrol station with the Kona.

The world is changing: there is a huge amount of work on making cleaner battery tech; mainstream manufacturers are beginning to leap in (VW has a big push over the next couple of years). It does feel that the Kona and it’s twin, the Kia eNiro, are proper “game changers” with the range.
Oh yes: I’m certainly interested in the Polestar-2

I suspect we will end up doing 90% of our journeys with it and “filling up” on cheap overnight energy (Octopus EV is another slightly “revolutionary” company in that space - feel free to use share.octopus.energy/loved-hawk-16 to join it: £50 to each of us: I will donate half of mine to a charity of your choice

ICE veteran of many decades....first steps into EV ownership with Kona Premium SE 64kWh now on order!